ESSAY MARKING GUIDE

By Andrew Roberts, Chris Burford and Sue Mew

This guide cannot tell you what your mark should be. It can only
indicate what it could be. One reason for this is that essays will not fall
neatly into the same grade on all points. In deciding what weight to attach
to the
strong and weak points, you will have to use your judgement.

At Middlesex University, degree level is level three (the
second and third year) . First year modules tend to
mark essays on a more generous scale. The guide will suggest the quality of
work you need to achieve level three (degree level) marks.

PLAGIARISM:
is
representing someone else's work as
your own - which is what you do when you copy. In practice it means that
your essay has passages, apart from
quotations
, that are:

the same as in a book, journal or another student's essay, or
the same as in a book, journal or another student's essay, but with
some words altered.

In the academic scale of values, plagiarism is counted as worse than
failing.

So first check that your essay does not contain any passages, apart from
quotations,
copied from a book or other publication. (Including passages
copied with some words altered). Also check that you have not copied
passages from notes that might have been another student's essay draft, a
lecture or tape that you listened to, or the soundtrack of a video you
watched.

Plagiarism is treated as an academic offence - Even when you did not intend
to do it. Be careful. Click on the cartoon my uncle Stan (the one in red)
drew for you and learn how to write in your own words

FAIL: Essays may fail because they are very weak, but we advise you
not to suggest a fail mark for your own essay.

To pass, an essay must be sufficiently clearly written to show that you
have understood the subject. To achieve any third class grade (16, 15,
14 or 13) an essay must show you understand the subject and the
question you
are answering and must demonstrate
knowledge
of the subject. The more
understanding and knowledge demonstrated - the better the third class.
However, third class essays are often noted by the feature that prevent
them from being lower seconds. These are faults that you should consider
working on.

Even if well written and focused
, an essay
with clearly incorrect
information, or showing that the reading has been badly misunderstood,
may be graded as a third.

The lowest marks in the third range
(16 and 15) may be due to serious English problems, or you may not
understand
how to write an essay. Of course, your essay may be weak because you have
not been attending to your work. On the other hand, you may be a
hard-working, skilful student, with a good grasp of the issues, but get a
poor third because you do not present your knowledge to the examiner. Make
sure that you say and explain what you know. Do not miss relevant material
out because the staff marker will know it already. If you get 15 or a lower
grade, for whatever cause, you should ask for advice.

upper marks in third range (14 and 13): usually indicate that a good
knowledge of the subject has been shown
(but not enough to be counted as
competent) and that the question being asked has been properly understood.

Essays that show a competent understanding of the subject and the question
may still not get a better mark than a good third (13) if

they are unfocused
(discursive, rambling)
or bring in unrelated (or not
directly related) issues.

they do not show that the student has the skill to write a competent
essay.

Two examples of this are:

1) a well focused essay showing a competent understanding but with few
references;

To achieve a lower second class grade (12, 11, 10 or 9) an essay must show
a
competent
understanding of the subject area and the question being
answered.

A competent essay demonstrates that you are capable of doing the task that
was set. It must focus
on
the question and give a clear,
structured
reply. The focus should be made clear in
an introduction
and maintained
throughout the essay. The structure will be shown by a clear and accurate
outline
in the introduction of the order
in which you wrote about the
issues.

good lower second (10 and 9): These are essays that demonstrate a
good understanding of the subject, in a well organised fashion, with an
introduction that tells the marker what it is about and how it is
organised, but with a more descriptive
than critical
approach.

All the ideas in the essay would
flow sequentially from one point to the next, demonstrating that
the student has not only understood the subject well, but knows how to
express that understanding coherently. All points of the question would be
fully dealt with.

A sharply focused
essay, without an
argument
is probably a good lower
second. It would have to be tightly
referenced
to required sources. It
would not make assertions without indicating pages in a required source
that supported the assertion, and giving the reader all the information
needed to look up the reference.

Upper second essays are more than competent: they shine with a degree of
special intellectual achievement. Students who are planning on an academic
career will aim for upper seconds.

Whilst a sharp focus
is needed for an essay to
reach the borderline of
an upper (from a lower), it is usually the
argument
that makes it an
upper second. An argument also makes an essay
critical
rather than
(just) descriptive.

The essay must demonstrate a more than competent understanding of the
subject and the question. Its focus
is
provided by its argument
, which is
stated in the introduction, and the case for which is made in the body of
the essay. The outline of the essay, given in the introduction, will be
related to the argument, and followed by a
summary
of the essay.

The lowest marks in the upper second range
(8 and 7): Clear uppers (8 and 7) will have all the qualities of
thirds and lower seconds, plus a clear argument which is well supported in
the body of the essay by very tight
referencing
to the required sources.

good upper second (6 and 5): A good upper second essay would
demonstrate an exceptionally clear and critical understanding of the
subject. The main factor separating a good upper (6 or better) from a clear
upper, is the strength of its argument. The argument will be
sophisticated
and
interesting
, rather than basic, and the
referencing
will be correspondingly better.

For an essay to achieve a 5 it would have to show some indication of
originality.

This is to help people evaluate and improve their own essays. Although it
is related to
numerical marking systems that "grade" essays, we encourage you to think
most about the qualitative assessment of your essay. Is it
focused? Is its
structure
clear? How well is it
introduced?
Does it have a clear
argument?
Is there a
flow
to the essay and do the points you make follow one another
logically?